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Esham
Genres: Horrorcore, Rap rock, Midwest rap, Gangsta rap Origin: Detroit, Michigan Began Career: 1989 Aliases: Esham the Unholy, Esham the Boogeyman, Converse, Mr. Spade, Homie the Clown Associated acts: Natas, Soopa Villainz, Psychopathic Rydas Related artists: Mastamind, TNT Status: Active Esham, born Rashaam Attica Smith, is a a rap artist from Detroit, Michigan, known for his hallucinogenic style of rap music which he refers to as "acid rap" and for lyrics involving transgressive subjects such as death, drug use, evil, paranoia and sex. He is widely considered to be one of the most influential artists in the history of horrorcore. He coined the terms "wicked shit" and "acid rap", and was arguably the very first horrorcore artist. Esham is also a member of the rap group Natas. Esham has been cited as an influence on many artists, including Eminem, Kid Rock, Insane Clown Posse, Necro, and Axe Murder Boyz, and has developed a devoted cult following, often referred to as Suicidalists. History Early career Born Rashaam Attica Smith in Long Island, New York, Esham grew up splitting time between the Seven Mile neighborhood on the East side of Detroit, where he lived with his mother, attending Osborn High School, and lived with his grandmother in New York during summers. He studied piano, guitar, and trombone in high school, and listened to artists such as Sugar Hill Gang, Run-DMC, Ozzy Osbourne and KISS. Esham began to write original lyrics, and was encouraged by his older brother, James H. Smith, to seriously pursue a career in hip hop. According to Esham, "He felt like I had a dope flow, and he thought I could bring something new to the game, just coming from the city of Detroit. Back then, it wasn't really a rap music scene in Detroit. Everybody was just imitating what everybody else was doing." In the second grade, Esham met Champtown, who was also an aspiring rapper. The two performed together at open mic events at Seafood Bay. In one occurance, Champtown and Esham were forced to rap for a drug dealer at gunpoint. At the age of 13, Smith released his debut album, Boomin' Words from Hell, in 1989. Of the album, Smith stated, "It was the crack era, ... and that's where all that really came from. It was all an expression about '70s-'80s drug cartel Young Boys Inc., Mayor Coleman Young, the city we lived in and just the turmoil that our city was going through at the time. We referred to the streets of Detroit as 'Hell' on that record. So that's where my ideas came from." In 1990, Esham and James H. Smith founded the independent record label Reel Life Productions, which reissued his debut album with an alternate track listing and artwork. Esham found it difficult to develop a fanbase, because many wrote off the dark content of his lyrics and imagery as shock value, while hip hop fans did not connect to Esham's albums because of his heavy metal influences. In 1991, Esham met Violent J, a member of the group Inner City Posse, who praised Esham and Reel Life Productions, and gave Esham a copy of the group's EP Dog Beats, beginning the two rappers' friendship and professional relationship. After releasing two EPs, Erotic Poetry and Homey Don't Play, Esham completed the double album Judgement Day, and its two volumes, Day and Night were released separately on April 9, 1992. ''KKKill the Fetus'', Closed Casket and Dead Flowerz As a student at Osborn High School, Esham met Mastamind, who gave him a three-song demo tape of his music, leading the two to form the group Natas with Esham's longtime friend, TNT. In 1992, Esham appeared on Carnival of Carnage, the debut album of Insane Clown Posse, released on October 18. He produced three tracks and rapped on the album's final track. In November, Natas released their debut album, Life After Death. Following the release of this album, Esham, Natas and Reel Life Productions were the subject of much controversy when a 17-year-old fan killed himself while smoking cannabis and playing Russian roulette while listening to Life After Death. In 1993, Esham released his third solo album, KKKill the Fetus. Jason Birchmeier wrote that "At this point in his career, his rapping has already reached near-peak levels, and his production shows a continued path towards an inventiveness. ... Never again would Esham be so gritty." On November 22, 1994, Esham released his fourth studio album, Closed Casket. Jason Birchmeier wrote that "most fans taking a chronological approach to his catalog should be fairly numb to Esham's exploitative shock attempts. Yet if this is one of your first experiences with Esham the Unholy, this album should pack a punch with its dark nature." In May 1996, Esham released his fifth studio album, Dead Flowerz. It peaked at #38 on the Billboard Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Gothom Records (1999–2001) In June 1997, Esham rebranded Reel Life Productions as Gothom Records, and released the album Bruce Wayne: Gothom City 1987, which charted at #57 on Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums. Esham later signed a distribution deal with Overcore, a subsidiary of Overture Music, which later became distributed by TVT Records. In June 2001, Gothom released Kool Keith's Spankmaster album, which featured several contributions by Esham, as well as Smith's eighth album, Tongues, which peaked at #7 on the Top Independent Albums chart, #46 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart and #195 on the Billboard 200. Psychopathic Records (2002–2005) In 2002, Esham signed to Psychopathic Records, releasing the compilation Acid Rain. It was announced that Esham would be moving away from the horror themes of his previous efforts. On November 18, 2003, Esham released his ninth studio album, Repentance. It peaked at #9 on the Top Heatseekers chart, #10 on the Top Independent Albums chart, and #71 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart. Jason Birchmeier wrote that "Repentance is a small step forward for Esham. He seems very confident here, comfortable with himself as an artist ... when he pulls everything together ... he makes some of the best music of his long, fruitful, yet largely unacknowledged career." His follow-up album on Psychopathic A-1 Yola, saw Esham achieving his highest consecutive level of charting success, as it peaked at 176 on the Billboard 200, his highest selling album on that chart to date, as well as peaking at #6 on Top Heatseekers, #12 on the Independent Albums chart, #23 on the Top Rap Albums chart, and #48 on the Top R&B chart. Following this release, Esham left Psychopathic in 2005 to relaunch Reel Life/Gothom. Relaunch of Reel Life (2006—present) Since leaving Psychopathic, Esham relaunched Reel Life Productions and produces a podcast known as the Bomb Ass Podcast, which appears semi-regularly on his official website. On August 26, 2008, Smith released his eleventh studio album, Sacrificial Lambz. It peaked at #50 on the Billboard Top Heatseekers chart and at #42 on the Top R&B/Hip-Hop Albums chart, and is the only album Smith has released since leaving Psychopathic which charted on Billboard. In October, Smith started a petition to run for mayor of Detroit, but was denied the petition and did not run. Smith has stated "The jump to running for mayor is a pretty drastic change, but I just want to take a stance. If you don't stand for something, you'll fall for anything." On July 28, 2009, Smith released I Ain't Cha Homey, a follow-up to his 1991 EP Homey Don't Play a diss album directed at Insane Clown Posse. Joseph Bruce later responded to the album in a 2011 interview with Spin magazine stating that "we were hanging out with the guy every day! How can we ever hang out again? I didn't know you felt that way about us. You know, you'd hang out with us during the day then you go home and write that shit? That's insane, you know. So, we're not talking. And I've known him all my life." On August 3, 2010, Smith released his twelfth studio album, Suspended Animation. In 2011, Esham released the EP Secret Society Circus and the album DMT Sessions, followed by a documentary directed by Smith, Death of an Indie Label, which was originally announced as a bonus feature on a deluxe edition of DMT Sessions, but was instead uploaded onto Gothom Inc.'s YouTube channel. Smith was also interviewed for the documentary The Untold Story of Detroit Hip-Hop, which is being produced by Detroit rapper Champtown. Feuds with other artists Eminem and D12 Esham was a major influence on mainstream rapper Eminem and his group D12, who also grew out of Detroit's hardcore rap scene. Although Esham was allegedly on initial good terms with Eminem, who referenced Esham in the song "Still Don't Give a Fuck" from his 1999 debut The Slim Shady LP, but In August 2001, Esham and D12 were kicked off the Warped Tour after members of the group allegedly physically attacked Smith over the lyrics of his song "Chemical Imbalance," which contained a reference to the daughter of D12 member Eminem, who was not present during the tour. Esham continued to take shots at Eminem in "Funny MF" and "Bob Ritchie" from his 2009 album I Ain't Cha Homey and "Eminem" from his 2010 album Suspended Animaton. In a 2011 interview, Eminem admitted being influenced by Esham and listening to him "when he first came out", but made no reference to the feud. Insane Clown Posse and Psychopathic Records 2006 Feud Esham was signed to Psychopathic Records from 2005 to 2006, after which Esham left the label along with Anybody Killa. He spoke harshly of Psychopathic Records and released a track dissing Insane Clown Posse, but both sides later resolved their differences. 2009 Feud At the 2009 Gathering of the Juggalos event, Esham started the feud back up by releasing the extended play I Ain't Cha Homie, which many interpreted as an insult to Insane Clown Posse and Juggalos. However, Esham denied the accusations, stating that the album was recorded in character as his fictional alter ego Homie the Clown, featured previously in his legendary 1991 EP Homie Don't Play. Despite this, he continued to release diss tracks aimed an Insane Clown Posse and Twiztid through his Bomb Ass Podcast, including "Druggalo", "Nothin' on Me", and "Fillmore Massacre" (a song about killing Violent J at ICP's annual Halloween show in Detroit). Over the next two years, Esham released numerous diss tracks aimed at Psychopathic Records. His 2011 documentary, Death of an Indie Label, chronicles his time at Psychopathic Records, and contains many insults directed at the label. Violent J publicly responded to the feud for the first time in a 2011 issue of Spin magazine, stating that he still respects Esham as an artist, but implied that he wasn't sure if the feud could be ended. In November 2011, Esham released a text-only video through his official YouTube account apologizing to Juggalos for "making family business public" and announcing that he would soon enter rehabilitative treatment for drug addiction. In the video, he stated that he does not hate anyone at Psychopathic, but that he does not have much respect for Violent J due to his unwillingness to acknowledge the alleged unfair treatment of Esham when he was signed to the label. Discography Solo career Studio albums Boomin' Words from Hell ''(1989) ''Judgement Day Vol. 1 & 2 ''(1992) ''KKKill the Fetus (1993) Closed Casket (1994) Dead Flowerz ''(1996) ''Bruce Wayne: Gothom City 1987 (1997) Mail Dominance (1999) Tongues (2001) Repentance (2003) A-1 Yola (2005) Judgement Day Vol. 3 & 4 (2006) Martyr Sity (2006) Sacrificial Lambz (2008) Suspended Animation (2010) Suspended Animation: Suspended Extended (2010) DMT Sessions (2011) Extended plays Homey Don't Play (1991) Erotic Poetry (1991) Hellterskkkelter (1993) Maggot Brain Theory (1994) Lamb Chopz (2007) Esham 4 Mayor ''(2008) ''I Ain't Cha Homey (2009) Secret Society Circus (2011) Holy Black Mamba (2011) Compilation albums Detroit Dogshit ''(1996) ''Bootleg: From the Lost Vault, Vol. 1 ''(2000) ''Acid Rain ''(2002) Mixtapes ''Hellaween: Pure Horror(2009) Death of an Indie Label (2011) With rap group Natas Life After Death ''(1992) ''Blaz4me (1994) Doubelievengod (1995) Multikillionaire: The Devil's Contract (1997) WicketWorldWide.COM (1999) Godlike (2002) N of tha World (2006) HYPOCRISY (2009) With supergroup Psychopathic Rydas Dumpin' (1999) Ryden Dirtay (2001) Check Your Shit in Bitch! (2004) With supergroup Soopa Villainz It Ain't Safe No More (2002) Furious (2005) Category:Artists Category:Rappers Category:Artists from Detroit Category:Horrorcore Artists Category:Reel Life Productions Category:Suicidalists Category:Juggalos